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Visions of glory

Earth’s crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
And only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh

I have a bookmark in my Bible that reads ‘If you search with a lovely thing in mind, that is what your heart will find.’ Yes, it’s trite and cute, but I’ve seen in life that it’s also true. People who go around with the expectation that the world is going to be a harsh, hostile, horrible place – and that the people they meet will reflect that – usually find it to be true. As is the converse.

It is entirely possible to go through life without seeing a single, momentary glimpse of God’s hand at work. Many people manage it. They may even believe that they are looking but unable to find it, but as today’s quotation (above), a reimagining of Romans 1:20 shows, this cannot be the case:

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

It’s a stunning and startling image. I’m picturing little Edwardian children, ringletted and in white smocks, sitting around Moses’ Burning Bush, happily engaged in gorging themselves on basketfuls of blackberries, never dreaming that they are on Holy Ground.